1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a flexible carrier for carrying a plurality of containers such as bottles.
2. Description of Prior Art
Conventional container carriers are often used to unitize a plurality of similarly sized containers, such as cans, bottles, jars and boxes and/or similar containers that require unitization. Flexible plastic ring carriers are one such conventional container carrier.
Flexible plastic ring carriers having a plurality of container receiving apertures that each engage a corresponding container may be used to unitize groups of four, six, eight, twelve or other suitable groups of containers into a convenient multipackage. Flexible ring carriers may include a handle that extend upwardly from the carrier to enable a consumer to carry the package.
Up until now, plastic ring carriers have generally been avoided by the glass industry because bottles tend to clang or bang against one another when shipped or lifted. This problem is typically due to spacing that existing plastic ring carriers create between containers when applied. This gives consumers a perception that bottles will break as a result of the contact. In the past, efforts to remedy this issue include using a thin plastic sleeve around an outside of the package which compresses the containers in the multipack thus avoiding the clanging noise entirely. The problem with this remedy is that it involves another applicating machine as well as the added cost of the sleeve itself.
The present invention efforts to accomplish the beneficial effects of a compressed package that was previously possible only by adding a sleeve.